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Shefika Gasprinska

Shefika khanim Gasprinska (1886, Bakhchisarai — died in Turkey at the age of 89) — a Crimean Tatar public and political figure, daughter of the educator Ismail bey Gasprinsky, and a leader of the women's movement for the emancipation of Muslim women in Crimea at the beginning of the 20th century.

Overview

Shefika Gasprinska did not become a shadow of her famous father, but left her own significant mark on the history of the Crimean Tatar people. As early as 1917, thanks to her efforts, the Muslim women of Crimea achieved the abolition of polygamy and political and social equality with men. She led the Crimean Tatar women's movement for emancipation in Crimea, and her progressive enthusiasm became an example for subsequent generations.

She was born in 1886 in Bakhchisarai. From the age of 17 she worked with her father at the printing house of the newspaper "Terjiman." In 1905 she graduated from the pedagogical lyceum and returned to "Terjiman." In that same year of 1905 the authorities permitted the publication of the first monthly women's magazine in the Muslim world, "Alem-i-nisvan" ("Women's World"), as a supplement to "Terjiman"; Ismail bey appointed Shefika as the editor-in-chief, and she soon transformed the publication into a weekly scientific-literary magazine for the spiritual development and education of Muslim women. In 1911 the authorities closed the magazine without explanation; Shefika's attempts to resume it in 1917 were unsuccessful.

During the years of the revolution she initiated the creation of the Crimean Central Muslim Women's Committee, whose activities encompassed the protection of motherhood and childhood and the involvement of Muslim women in all spheres of public and professional life. In November 1917 she was elected a delegate to the I Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people from the Yevpatoria district. After the defeat of the Crimean Tatar government and the execution of Noman Chelebidzhikhan (February 1918), she emigrated to Azerbaijan, and after the Bolshevik coup of 1920 and the shooting of her husband — to Turkey, where in Istanbul she founded the Union of Crimean Tatar Women.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Origin: daughter of the educator Ismail bey Gasprinsky, grew up in the family enterprise of the newspaper "Terjiman."
  • Education: In 1905 she graduated from the pedagogical lyceum.
  • "Alem-i-nisvan" ("Women's World"): the first women's magazine-supplement to "Terjiman" in the Muslim world; under Shefika's leadership it became a weekly scientific-literary publication (1905–1911).
  • Emancipation of Muslim women: 1917 — the abolition of polygamy, political and social equality of women in Crimea.
  • Crimean Central Muslim Women's Committee: founder, protection of the rights of Muslim women.
  • I Kurultai (November 1917): delegate from the Yevpatoria district; associate of the first president of the Crimean People's Republic, Noman Chelebidzhikhan.
  • Family: married the Azerbaijani public figure Yusuf Nasibbeyli (later Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, shot in 1920).
  • Emigration: Turkey, activity in the "Red Crescent" society and the founding of the Union of Crimean Tatar Women in Istanbul (1930s).